The Blackmail Games
by darkwoodsdreamer
Summary: Amu is the new girl in school who just moved to America and only knows 4 words of English. What happens when the cute boy from English class blackmails her into being his girlfriend? Also, Amu decides to be the coolest girl in school. T for language.
1. Chapter 1

**So, here is my brand new fanfiction! Yay! I'm not really feeling the title, so I want you guys to decide after you read it. The Cool Games or The Blackmail Games? Whichever title reaches 10 reviews for it first wins! I'll use The Blackmail Games for now, but I'll let you know who has won when it happens. For those of you reading my story Now Your Gone, the chapters will probably be coming a little slower now that I have to juggle the two. R&V! (review and vote :P) Enjoy!**

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><p>I walked into the school. It was my first day in a new school. I sighed nervously. Back in Japan, I was the bad girl. I was cool, fresh, spicy. But in America, Iheard, that was the norm. Everyone was like that. So, I was going with the good girl style. A new school, town, country, house… why not personality? A fresh start, just what I was looking for.<p>

Of course, I was worried to. I mean, I was living in America with only enough English to introduce herself in class. I wasn't even sure if she was going to have to do that, but better to be prepared. The move was so sudden, so unexpected, I didn't have time to learn more than, "Hello. My name is Amu Hinamori." I murmured it to myself over and over, scared out of my mind I would forget it if I stopped.

Kids walked by, chattering amongst themselves in a language I couldn't even hope to understand. This didn't do anything to help my nerves, as you could probably guess. I just tried to block it all out as I pulled out my schedule and glanced at what I had scribbled down as my first class. I groaned. English. Nothing like starting your first day in a class where you talk about a language you couldn't try to understand if you wanted to. This was going to suck.

I finally walked into the classroom after searching forever for the room with the symbols that matched the ones on my English schedule, getting more and more frustrated as I checked room after rooms. Amazingly, I had just enough time to spare. I sat down at a random desk, not really caring if it was someone else's or where I sat anyway. Besides, it's not like I could tell if it was someone else's even if it was written there.

The boy next to me caught my eye. My jaw hit the floor as I realized he was Japanese. I couldn't believe my luck! _Of course_, I thought bitterly, _he's also American. Chances are he doesn't speak any Japanese._ Either way, I couldn't stop myself from trying.

"Sumimasen." The blue haired boy looked up, obviously startled. He looked at me.

"Nihongo ga wakarimasu ka?" I asked. My heart pounded from nerves. _He's cute_. I thought as I stared into his midnight blue eyes, waiting for a response.

"Eh." He answered. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good, because I barely know a word of English." I responded.

"And yet you attend school here in America. Where we speak English." He started to extend his hand, which confused me. He must have noticed, because he quickly retracted it and stood to give a short, quick bow. "Tsukiyomi Ikuto desu." He introduced himself.

"Hinamori Amu desu." I replied, returning the bow. "Pleased to meet you."

"As I you."

Just then, the teacher entered, rapidly speaking and making strange hand gestures while making strange marks on the board. I tried to appear as though she was listening, when really I was thinking about the cute boy sitting next to me. Ikuto-san passed me a note while the teacher's back was turned.

_She just introduced herself as Jennings-sensei and told us our first unit will be poetry. She's now jabbering away about how to form a proper haiku._

I flashed him a smile of gratitude and handed the note back with the words _thanks_ written underneath his original note.

Unfortunately, Jennings-sensei turned around just as I was passing it back. The teacher seemed to become angry. She was speaking even faster than before, so fast I doubted even the American kids could understand what she was saying. She pointed to the note before taking it and opening it. When she saw it was written in Japanese, she seemed to become even more furious.

I'll admit it, I was frightened. I didn't know what to do, so I tried to apologize. "Sumimasen, wakarimasen." I said, my voice shakey. Out of the corner of her eye, I saw Ikuto-san lower his head into his hands and shake his head. I suddenly understood I had just made a big mistake. Jennings-sensei started shouting even louder, if that was even possible. Suddenly, she stopped. She just looked at me, as if she was seeing me in a whole new light suddenly.

"Ikuto." She said and gestured for him to follow her into the corner. The kids around her slowly started to talk amongst themselves again. After a minute of them whispering, she came back over to me. _Just great. _I thought. _I bet he just made things worse. _

"Gamensighed." She said to me. I was confused for a moment. What the hell does Gamensighed mean? Then I realized she was trying to say, "Gomenasai." She smiled at her.

"Arigatou." She smiled at me. Ikuto-san motioned for me to follow him into the hallway. When the door was closed behind them he turned to face me.

"I just saved your ass in there, y'know." He seemed to be a little pissed, which just made me angry. Where did get off?

"No, actually, I don't know. In case you didn't notice, I had no fucking idea what was going on in there. For all I know, she could have been blaming for global warming!" I put my hands on my hips and glared at him.

Ikuto-san looked taken aback for a moment, the smiled. "Woah, I think I just saw the bad-ass side of little Amu-chan. Didn't mean to come off angry. Just thought you should know, you're gonna have to pay me back." I looked into his smiling eyes with a suspicious one in mine. He had his hands in his pockets, bending down to look me right in the eyes.

"Pay you back how? And if you get to call me Amu-chan, I get to call you Dickhead-kun. Deal?" I flashed him a winning smile. He grinned back.

"Deal."

"So, what's this 'payback' you're so hung up on?" I said, getting back to the topic at hand.

"Well, seeing as I just saved you from being suspended on your first day, first period no less-" I gulped. Suspended? For passing a stupid note? "Your payback is going to have to be significant." I gave him another suspicious look. He gave a stupid smirk that got bigger with every passing second.

"You, Hinamori Amu, are as of now officially my… girlfriend." Honestly, I wasn't surprised. It would be self-centered to call myself beautiful, so let's just say I was a fairly attractive girl. But most of the time, the people who try to get you to date them in a round-about way are… well, ugly. Completely unattractive. But he was… how to put this… well, hot. Like, really hot. _He sort of reminds me of Tadase-san._ Dumped me for some low-life freshman. Jerk.

"If not, I could always go back and tell the teacher you called her a little ugly bitch. That would get you a weeks worth of detentions at the very least." It was obvious that he was trying to appear threatening, but it's hard to appear threatening when you quite obviously have the hots for the girl you're looking at. He was having a physical reaction, if you catch my drift…

I smiled. "Is Dickhead-kun really so unpopular he has to use blackmail to get girls?" I said teasingly. He didn't react, though. I was hoping he would blow up, but he just smiled at me again, that same stupid smirk he always had on his face.

"Well, I could always come-on to you instead." He leaned up against the wall. I put my hands up in front of me and took a half-step backwards.

"No, thanks, I'm good. You really don't need to." I laughed despite myself.

"So, that's a yes?"

"Whatever, Dickhead-kun." I started to walk down the hall. I didn't bother going back to class. What would the point be, anyway? Ikuto-san would cover for me whether I asked or not. If he didn't, he would get in trouble too, so he was obligated.

"Pinkette-chan." He called after me. I flipped him the finger and he laughed. I rounded the corner just as I heard the door close behind him. I stopped, a sudden realization hitting me. I had let my guard down. I was trying to mold myself into being a good girl, and he had broken my defenses and gotten in my head. I hadn't even known he was there. I smiled. He was good. My text tone went off.

_meet me outside after school pinkette chan – your bf_

_how did you get this number_

_I have my ways :P_

_dickhead c ya then_

I put my phone back in my pocket. He wanted the cool Amu? Fine, that's who he would get. I would become the height of cool at this school. I did it in Japan, how hard would it be here in America? I'd be the damned coolest chick in this school, and whoever held that spot now could go fuck themselves. I'll bite. I'll play your stupid game, but you better be prepared to have your asses kicked from here to the middle of next week. I grinned, a determined look on my face. I walked down the hallway confidently. This was going to be fun.


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter is really long, the longest one I've ever written in fact. I'm finding that this is harder to write then Now Your Gone, which is weird because Now Your Gone is such a heavy, dramatic story and this is a much happier, lighter one. Maybe I really am a depressing person. =P Anyway, enjoy, R&R, read my other stuff, if you don't watch the show than start watching it so you can, all that good stuff. **

**I'm really sorry! This story is going to be on hold for a while! It really sucks, but I don't have any choice. My other story's quality is suffering because of my split attention. Last time I'll try to write two stories that are completely different in every way imaginable at the same time... Anyway, sorry and enjoy!  
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><p>I walked outside, the chilly New England air taking me by surprise. In Tokyo, we woke up to 75 degree weather, and by noon it was 90 degrees at least. Here, the temperature was only getting to 75 degrees at 14:00. I looked over the crowd of chattering high schoolers, keeping an eye out for my "boyfriend". I wondered whether he could actually be considered my boyfriend even though I was blackmailed into dating him. I was still pondering this, a smile on my face, when I heard Ikuto-san come up behind me.<p>

"Hey, Pinkette-chan." He said, smiling down at me.

"Hey there, Dickhead-kun. How's it going?" I asked, turning to face him with my hands casually placed on my hips.

"We're going on our first date." He said, not bothering to answer my question. It surprised me a little bit, although it probably shouldn't have. We were dating, after all.

"Nani? Doko?" I asked. His grin got wider, if that was actually possible. I briefly wondered if his lips were sore at the end of the day from all that smiling.

"Don't know yet." He said, leaning against one of the supports. "We'll figure it out."

"Ii desu. I'm just gonna ask Mom." I said, pulling out my cell phone and texted Mom.

_Going out with a friend. See you when I get back._

I turned off my cell, that way if Mom texted me back saying no, I would be able to truthfully say, "Sumimasen. Shirimasendeshita." I put it back in my pocket and turned to face Ikuto-san.

"She said fine." I said, flashing him a smile. He grinned back, and we started walking to the parking lot. We crossed the bus lanes just as the buses were coming up. The bus driver beeped at us and Ikuto-san flipped him the finger. I laughed, and Ikuto-san just grinned as usual. We climbed into his car (what it was I have no idea) and buckled in.

"So, do you have any idea what we're doing at all or were you telling the truth for once?" I inquired, turning to face him.

"No, I've planned out a little bit." He didn't turn to face me, keeping his eyes on the road. _Good,_ I thought. _Mom said that all Americans didn't deserve to drive because they sucked at it so bad. Lying bitch._

"How much?" I asked, still trying to get information out of him. I wanted to know if he planned on kidnapping me or anything. Not that he could even cross the country's border legally, which is ideal for kidnapping, but still.

He didn't answer for a minute. We turned out of the school parking lot, finally out of the traffic jam. "This is as far as I got in my plans." I laughed. He grinned. That grin he always had plastered on his face might start to annoy me soon. After all, as his girlfriend I had the power to tell him to come up with a new stupid smile every few weeks.

"I figured I'd just take you around, show you what's here." I smiled to myself. He might be self-absorbed, but at least he was using this time to do something helpful for me. Maybe he wasn't the arrogant bastard he came off as.

"Wow, you're doing something nice? I just might have to stop calling you Dickhead-kun." He smiled.

"You just might. Tabemasu ka?"

"Eh, skoshi."

"Let's stop here, then." He pulled into the parking lot of a brown building with a huge sign on top. I couldn't read it, but there was a little girl with yellow braids on the front.

"I'm never going to get used to seeing people with yellow hair." I sighed, leaning my head against the back of the seat. He laughed at me.

"Is it really that weird to you?" He asked

"Yeah, it really is. Your parents never told you about it?"

He gripped the steering wheel harder. "I... don't talk to Mom much. Or my step dad." I was surprised. This was the first time I had seen an Ikuto that wasn't happy-go-lucky all the time. I didn't like to see him upset, but I also liked he wasn't trying to hide anything from me. I liked it, but I didn't. So, basically, I was really confused.

"Oh... I don't mean to push, but what about your real dad?"

"I don't know where he is."

"Oh..." I wasn't sure what to say anymore. Ikuto had parked the car and we were just sitting there, staring off into space. "I'm sorry for bringing it up.

He smiled at me, a gentle smile. "It's fine. Let's go in."

"Yeah."

We walked inside and stood next to the entrance, waiting for a waitress to lead us to a table. There was a register right in front of me, with tables off to either side. All the tables were booths that could fit 4 or 5 people at once. It was all red - the seats, the counter, the floor tiles, the nurses uniforms, even the tables were dyed a cherry sort of red.

"So, where are we?"

"Wendy's."

"Never heard of it."

He laughed. "Well, you did just move here, ne?"

"Well, yeah..." He laughed again.

A waitress - another yellow haired wierdo, God - came up to us, smiling a perky, slightly annoying smile. She had a red notebook with yellow lettering in her hands. She said something to us, and Ikuto responded, talking just as rapidly. The language made my head spin. While I was waiting for them to finish whatever they were talking about, I realized that I had stopped thinking of Ikuto as Ikuto-san already. It was strange. Often times, it took me months to feel comfortable even thinking about them without using a suffix. But I already felt comfortable with him, only knowing him for about 7 hours. It was a good feeling, yet a scary one at the same time. Again, I was just confusing myself.

"Amu!" Ikuto called, as the waitress tried not to laugh behind him. I wondered how long I had been spacing out. I smiled, flashing him a smile I knew would stop that waitress bitch from flirting with him. Again, I surprised myself. I didn't date him by choice, yet I was jealous. I hid my real thoughts so Ikuto wouldn't think I was upset.

"Sorry! I'm coming." I said. The waitress looked confused and asked Ikuto a question, to which he responded. I assumed they were talking about how I didn't speak English yet. I frowned. If I wanted everyone to like me, not being able to talk to them would be a problem.

"What would you like?" Ikuto asked after we were seated.

"Wakarimasen. It's not like I can read the menu." He laughed.

"I'll just order you pancakes."

"Sounds good." I smiled, then turned to the waitress. " Anata no gengo no nayami o hanasu koto ga dekinai baai, watashi wa zan'nendesu. Watashi wa jama sa rete inai yo ne.(1)" Ikuto smiled, obviously trying not to laugh. She turned to him and spoke. He responded, lifting his shoulders and letting them drop a second later. She blushed and shot me an angry glare.

"What did you say to her?" I asked once she had left. He laughed under his breath.

"I said, 'I'm not fluent enough to translate all of that. Something about how you smell like cow shit.'" We were both laughing hard when Ikuto's cell rang.

"Shit."

"What's wrong?" I asked, genuinely concerned. If he had to leave because of family business, I understood, but I hoped nothing was wrong. He didn't seem to have the best family life already, it would suck pretty bad if it got worse.

"My sister is having problems again. She's had separation problems ever since dad left. Would you mind coming with me to see her? She's not too far away..." He was already standing up and taking out his wallet. He placed a paper note with the number 20 on it on the table.

I stood up. "No, of course I'll come. I'd love to meet her." He smiled, another gentle smile that quickly changed to one of his stupid grins.

"You say that now. Just wait." I laughed and followed him out. I had been dating him for all of 7 and a half hours, and I was already meeting his family. Fast moving relationship much? I just hoped this sister of his liked me...

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><p>(1) I'm sorry if not being able to speak your language troubles you. I hope I'm not being a bother.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

**It's been soooo long since I updated this story! And, after what happened with Now Your Gone, I still haven't learned my lesson, apparently, since I am once again working on two stories at the same time. Losses is a tragedy (again. What is with me and OHSHC tragedy fics?), but it's not as deep yet so I should be fine. Anyway, enjoy and review and visit my profile and- oh! I almost forgot! I changed my pen name! Instead of UchihaSasuke101, I am now The Uchihaness. Anyway, yeah. Read now.**

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><p>The drive was about an hour long. The whole ride there I could only think about how nervous I was. Meeting his family! It wasn't like it was his Mom or Dad or anything, but still. I mean, she could tell them shit about me. <em>Why am I worrying about this?<em> I thought incredulously._ It's not like we're dating for real or anything. I don't like him!_ Somehow, I felt this wasn't entirely true. I dismissed this strange feeling, though. What I felt was probably just friendship, anyhow.

We drove up in front of a fancy apartment complex. I stared in disbelief, first out of her living here, in such an expensive-looking complex, and also out of the fact that she lived alone! I turned to Ikuto, trying to read his expression, but it was completely calm. _Of course it is, you dumbass. It's his sister. He's not surprised by where she lives every fucking time he comes to visit her._ I mentally kicked myself.

"Well, we're here." He said, shutting of the car. He didn't make any move to get out, just sat back. I waited a few minutes before commenting.

"Um… aren't you going to get out of the car?" I asked him.

"Eventually. I'm procrastinating." He sighed, looking like he would much rather go to hell then go see his sister. It was almost laughable.

"What's so wrong with your sister that you don't even want to go see her?" I asked. There had to be a reason, and there was no way I was going in there without him warning me as to what was up. "Is she bi-polar? Schizophrenic? Do you just hate her?"

"Probably, I wouldn't be surprised, and kind of. Let's just say she takes the term, "sibling affection" a tad bit too far. She's never had to learn the meaning of the word no, and I can't imagine what's going to happen now that I'm forcing her too.

I laughed. I knew it was mean, but I just couldn't help myself. The situation was gross and hilarious at the same time. "So, let me get this straight. Your afraid of your sister because she 'wants' you? Gomen, but that is hilarious!" He smirked, a little upset about me not taking him seriously, but more amused than upset.

"Okay, it's a little… _unorthodox_, but she's my sister. What am I supposed to do, get a restraining order? Besides, I'm used to her. You, however, will be meeting her for the first time. I'm not going to hide the fact that we're dating from her." I fought the urge to snicker at that. He said it like it was a decision we made together. "She's not going to take it lightly. I just hope you don't end up in the hospital."

"Ja." I said, the pieces falling into place. "You have one fucked up sister. You're saying she's going to try to beat the crap out of me because your dating me?" I carefully avoided the term, "We're dating." since the "we" in that implied both of us made this choice willingly.

"Maybe." He checked his watch. "We've been out here for 5 minutes. No doubt she saw us come in and is wondering why we haven't got out of the car yet. Well, why I haven't. Might as well get it over with." We both stepped out of the car and slowly trudged towards the building.

"So, what problems was she having exactly?" I asked.

"If I don't visit often enough, she'll get depressed, stop eating, stop sleeping, stop talking… she basically just sits in a dark corner and refuses to do anything. We don't know why she does it." We reached the door and he turned and put his hands on my shoulders. "Please, don't say anything until I introduce you. Trust me, you don't want her to jump to conclusions, which she will if I don't get time to explain, and chances are she won't even notice you until I point you out. She'll be too excited over seeing me." I nodded. I couldn't believe we actually had to take this so seriously. It felt like it was as though I were standing in the lobby in a mental hospital, and having a doctor tell me all the precautions I had to take to visit a dangerous patient. Although, from what I'd heard so far, this girl probably should be in a mental hospital anyway.

Ikuto took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. A young Spanish girl, maybe 13 or 14, wearing a maid's outfit, opened the door and started talking to Ikuto. I was confused about this. Were young girls traditionally maids in America? I'd have to remember to ask Ikuto about it. Suddenly, I realized she was speaking to him in Spanish. I didn't know much English, but, ironically, I was fairly fluent in Spainsh.

"Puedo ayudarte? An, Ikuto, por favor entran. Tu hermana estado esperando tu visita." She said, smiling. She turned to look at me, still smiling yet confused. "Pero, quien es tu amiga?" She asked. Ikuto smiled back at the girl.

"Esta es mi novia, Amu Hinamori." He said, introducing me. I smiled at the girl, and almost bowed, but caught myself and stuck out my hand for her to shake.

"Soy Amu. Soy la novia de Ikuto. Encantada." I said. Ikuto looked at me, surprised. I smiled back at him. The girl smiled back at me, although not as happily as before. _She must like him, too._ I thought to myself.

"Soy Emerald." She said, not bothering to say 'Nice to meet you' or something of the sort. _Bitch._ I thought, slightly bitterly. It didn't take much to offend me. It didn't help much that she turned to Ikuto and gave him a brighter smile than before. _Am I seriously getting jealous?_ I thought to myself. _What next, I'm going to get angry if he hugs his sister? What is wrong with me?_ I shook my head to clear it. Ikuto shot me a questioning look, but I just smiled at him.

"Por favor siganme." She said, and turned around. She led us up the stairs and opened the door for us, stepping aside so we could enter.

We didn't even have second before a young girl with yellow hair, obviously died, launched herself at Ikuto, shouting his name. She knocked him to the floor and squeezed him. I tried not to laugh as I watched Ikuto struggle to get out of her arms. Suddenly, she froze. She jumped up and pointed a finger at me and started talking. I picked out a few words I recognized, like who, girl, and here. I was excited when I could understand even more words that Ikuto said. I was learning, slowly but surely. Soon, I would understand whole sentences! I smiled.

She turned to me and spoke in Japanese. "You're his girlfriend?" She asked coldly. I got the feeling she already didn't like me.

"Hai." I responded, trying to sound kind and caring, like I was a good person. Basically, trying not to sound like me.

"I'm his sister." She responded, still short and cold. "Your hair is died." She pointed out.

"So is yours." I shot back.

"You look like a punk." She said, some of the color draining from her face.

"And you don't?" I parried. She smiled at me.

She glared at me, but didn't bother to say anything else. I couldn't help but smile smugly. I had one the battle. But I wasn't done yet.

"Not only that, you're totally obsessed with you brother." I stuck up my thumb. "Incest much?" I taunted. Utau went completely pale. I saw Ikuto lower his head to his hand. I realized that maybe, just maybe, I should have taken him a little more seriously when he described his sister as a phsyco bitch when she started shaking with rage. Suddenly she flew out me, screaming insults and other colorful language. Ikuto was faster, though, and caught her as I stumbled back.

"You might want to get out of here now!" Ikuto shouted over Utau's screaming, holding her firmly and seemingly effortlessly even though Utau was flailing all over the place. But I couldn't go yet. I hadn't completely ruined any possible hope to be friends with this insane moron.

"Hold on one sec." I whipped out my phone and took a picture of Utau before running out the door, praying she wouldn't break free from Ikuto's grip, as a new wave of fresh insults followed after me. I fled down the stairs and out the door. I didn't think Ikuto would be mad at me. After all, he seemed to think just as highly of her as I did.

I sat and waited, listening to Utau's muffled screams as I worked on composing a text to my mother. Only after finishing it did I realize that she might not like me hanging around someone who was a blood relative of her, never mind dating him. Not that she knew yet, but she would find out. Eventually. And I couldn't risk getting expelled. I didn't know for sure anything would happen to me if that Ikuto told that teacher that I had sworn at her, but I didn't know anything about the American schooling system, really. I wasn't going to take that chance.

A few minutes later, Ikuto came walking out the door, sweat dripping off his brow. He glanced up at me and, after a pitiful attempt at trying to look angry, burst out laughing. I started to laugh too. Before long, I was laughing so hard I fell over and sat hard on the pavement. This just proved to make us laugh harder. Finally, I pulled myself together and got up off the ground, breathless. Ikuto grinned.

"You are definitely the best girlfriend I have ever had." I was mildly surprised by the word girlfriend, but I suppose I shouldn't have been. After all, that was sort of the agreement. Though, being the competitive person I was, I just had to one-up him. I smiled and took his arm, hugging him close to me and smiling up into his face.

"I try." I answered, kissing him on the cheek. I'd do lips, but I think that could wait until after I had been dating this guy for more than 8 hours. I grinned again and let go, climbing into the passenger side of the car. Ikuto stood there for another moment, stunned. He quickly recovered, though, and climbed into the driver's side of the car.

"Oh, yeah. Definitely the best yet." He laughed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Here is chapter 4, finally! Sorry it takes so long to update in between chapters. And this one is even later then normal, isn't it? Sorry, I had a hectic weekend. I didn't have a single spare moment to myself! It was fun, but tiring. Anyway, review and all that good stuff and check out my other stories. Hopefully soon I'll get to update my profile so you can see what's coming. I only just thought of putting in something like that because of what a moron I am. I'll let you get to the story now. **

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><p>I walked into school Monday morning feeling refreshed. I was looking forward to today, the day when I instituted Operation Coolest Girl in School. I already had a good idea of who the cool kids were here. Ikuto had given me the basic run-down, who I don't want to be seen with and what-not. I knew exactly what I was looking for. And, lucky me, target number 1 was in my first period class. I had stayed up all night every night since we got here practicing my English. I spent every conscious second of the weekend studying, too. And it probably helped that I had studied English back in Japan, even if I hadn't been very good at it at all. Hopefully, it was enough.<p>

"Hey." I said, walking up to Triniti Carlsons, best friend of Faith Richards who was regarded with much admiration and envy. She turned, obviously surprised that anyone would dare to talk to her forthright, but when she saw who it was, she smiled. _Being foreign must give me some sort of advantage._ I thought, amused.

"Hey. You're the new girl, right? Amu Hinamori?" She pronounced it like A moo Heenaamori, which was annoying, but I tried to not be a pain about it. I'd correct her just this once, but after that I'd try not to.

"It's pronounced Amu, but yeah. That's me." I responded, trying to sound like I spoke this language all the time. I hoped I had my grammar correct.

"You stood up in class and … yourself, right?" I didn't recognize one of the words, and was aware I looked confused, but it didn't seem to bother her, though. She probably was expecting I wouldn't be great at English yet.

"… yourself? Told us your name?" She offered, trying to make things simpler for me. I smiled brightly, showing her I understood. _Wow. American girls are a lot nicer than that movie tried to make them seem. _I thought happily. This would be a lot easier if I didn't have to deal with a bunch of bitchy snobs.

"Oh! Repeat that word please?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound weird. The only reason I had memorized that phrase was for situations like this. Good thing, too. It might have looked a little strange if someone who was trying to learn English just brushed off new vocabulary without even trying to learn it. Triniti smiled at me.

"Sure. _Introduce._" She said. I repeated the word slowly and she nodded.

"So, you're still learning English?" She asked, speaking a little slower. I was glad. It was a little hard to follow earlier.

"Yeah. I'm not too good at it yet. Our move was…" I thought for a moment, trying to think of the word I needed. "quick?" I asked, looking to Triniti for help. She thought for a moment.

"You mean _sudden_?" She asked. I didn't really know, so I just nodded.

"Yeah, sudden. I no had time to learn English." She giggled a bit, and I realized I had made a mistake. I was utterly horrified I had said something wrong. What was going to happen? She seemed to think it was funny. Was that good or bad? She must have been able to read the fear on my face, because she stopped laughing and waved her hands in front of her face.

"Don't be … I … English is, like, the …. …. In the world to … or…. So, it's … Don't worry about it." I didn't understand most of what she said, but I nodded anyway. I still didn't know what I had said wrong, but I hoped she would explain without my asking. I didn't want to seem like anymore of a freak than I already did.

"You mean you _didn't._ You _didn't _have time to learn English." She said. I nodded, smiling. This was seriously a lot easier than I thought it would be. I had spent hours on the computer yesterday researching all about celebrities in America and what the latest fashions in clothing and hair were. I had armed myself with all the tools I could to win her over, and it was almost like it was her goal to win me over too. This was completely effortless so far!

"So." Triniti said, her voice dropping low. "Did you hear about Daniel Francois?" She asked, her eyes eager. I realized what the one thing I had forgotten was – gossip. I knew nothing of the gossip here at this school. I mentally kicked myself. How could I have forgotten something so blatantly obvious? I hid my feelings, though, and tried to make my face match hers, eager to spread stories, be they true or not.

"I hear he totally cheated on Ashley Levis. She caught him with Amelia Brooks." I racked my brains for the names. It took a few seconds, but I finally remembered who they were. Ashley Levis – Vice President of the student council and Chair of the dance committee. Ikuto told me who she was when we were going through a year book over the weekend. Amelia Brooks – Ashley's best friend. One of the most popular girls and the biggest slut in school. She recently broke up with Daniel. Daniel had only been dating Ashley for a month.

"Really? I cannot believe he would do that!" I exclaimed. Triniti rolled her eyes.

"Well, I can. He's a total player. Everyone knows it." I was confused for a moment. By 'player', did she mean he was a football player? Jocks did seem to have bad reputations. I wouldn't be surprised if he was. But still, I had to make sure I had it straight.

"What do you mean, a 'player'?" I asked.

"You know: he's a cheater. He can't stay …" I nodded, even though I didn't understand the last word. I made a mental note to look it up later. "You should stay away from him. I would know. He cheated on me." The longer I talked to her, the easier it was to understand her. It was a great feeling, being able to understand a whole sentence when just a few minutes ago I would have thought that impossible. I nodded, trying not to show how happy I was about this in case she read it the wrong way.

"Alright, settle down, it's time for class! Back to your seats." Mr. Dansworth, the math teacher, yelled. I walked back to my seat after exchanging numbers with Triniti. For the rest of class, I had a huge, barely suppressed smile on my face.


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, here's the next chapter! Sorry that it's been so long, I didn't get to start this until Monday and wasn't able to get back on to finish it until today! *sigh* Well, it's up now, at least. I haven't even started chapter 5 for Losses though... *sigh again* Never mind, this is probably boring. I'll let you read the next chapter now... don't forget to review!**

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><p>I walked down the hallway, elated. After a complete success in math class, I felt on top of the world. I had prepared myself for total snobs and a whole lot of work to get close to these girls, but it was so easy!<p>

"Hey, what's with the grin?" Ikuto's voice came from behind me.

_Him again?_I thought to myself, even though I knew I didn't feel that way. _I'm not actually starting to like him… am I?_ I quickly hid my thoughts before turning around.

"I'm having an awesome day is all." I said casually. "I think I just made a friend." I said happily, to excited about my success too worry about how un-Amu I was acting. Ikuto raised an eyebrow.

"How did you manage that with you're handful of English?" He asked, trying to sound like he was joking, but I could hear another emotion in his voice… worry maybe? Was he actually worrying about me? My heart skipped a beat, but I quickly reprimanded myself for getting worked up over something so small.

I smirked. "Actually, I speak English pretty well, if I do say so myself." I said proudly – in English. Ikuto smiled at me.

"Nice. The accent is a little off though." He responded, also in English. I gave him a mock pout.

"Don't spoil it for me. I'll figure it out." I said. He smiled and then – he kissed me! Actually kissed me, on the lips! _I guess I was worried for nothing…_I thought, thinking back to our date when I met his sister. He pulled away, genuinely smiled, and walked off to class. I stood there, still a little dazed. The words 'Ikuto' and 'not horrible' never belonged in the same sentence unless there was a 'never in a million years' in there somewhere. I was completely baffled. Suddenly, the bell rang, pulling me out of my trance. I hurried on to my next class.

When I reached my desk, I was approached by a Chinese girl with hair pulled back into a ponytail. I recognized her immediately as Faith Richards. _And now cool people are approaching me? Is this really going to be that easy? No challenge at all? How boring…_I thought before I noticed her face, which was anything but friendly. I was confused. What did I ever do to her to make her so suddenly pissed at me? I returned her glare.

"So." Faith said. "I hear you're dating Ikuto now?" She said to me, her eyes like daggers. I knew what was going on now. Either she liked Ikuto or he's her ex and she's still in love with him. Which was about to make this a lot harder. _Finally, a challenge._I thought, both excited and disheartened at the thought. I gazed at her evenly, showing that I didn't really care what she thought.

"Yes. Was that all?" I replied. She didn't seem to like this.

"No, that's not all. You should know that Ikuto is only using you." She said, her voice fake sweet. Obviously, she was trying to make me doubt him so I would break up with him. I had encountered this a lot when dating that idiot Tadase.

"Is that so? Well, you should know that I don't give a shit. Thanks for the warning though." I said, matching my voice to hers. I looked away and opened my text book to the page written on the board and started reading. Faith leaned in closer, not yet satisfied.

"Fine then. But he's still in love with me, you know. He told me himself." I sighed. So she was one of _those_girls. Well, I only had to put up with her long enough to get myself in a position where I could spread nasty rumors about her and knock her down a few pegs. Maybe that would teach her to stop trying to mess with people. Not exactly the nicest way to teach her a lesson, but I was willing to do whatever it took to get her to stop being such an ass.

After my first kiss with Ikuto, Faith the Bitch had to come and ruin it. I wonder if my problems with Faith would set me back with Triniti? Triniti had some spine, but not a lot. She would protest for a while, but if Faith told her to do something, it got done eventually. So, she might still talk to me for a while, but eventually Faith would find out and put a stop to it. I had to work fast. If I lost my headway with Triniti, everything would come crashing down around me.

But what could I do? I had to make Faith think that I wasn't a threat. If I could get Ikuto to stage a fight with me… after all, he already knew about the whole plan. Even if he wasn't, he always loved to start fights and rumors just to stir up the school when it started to get boring. A fight between us would keep the rumor mill running on high for a few days, plus knock me down a peg on Faith's radar. It was a win-win. I smiled to myself. I could do this.

I spent the entire period formulating and fleshing out my plan. By the time the bell rang, I had a detailed step-by-step plan. This was perfect. I couldn't find any loopholes. I dashed out the door as fast as I could, eager to reach English class. I couldn't wait to tell Ikuto the plan. He was going to love it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry that it's been so long since I updated this! I just realized that I had totally forgotten about this and decided to quickly write the next chapter so that you guys wouldn't get to impatient with me. I wrote this in literally half an hour so sorry if it sucks, but I think it turned out alright, especially since I wrote this all spur of the moment with no plans what so ever. Well, R&R and all that good stuff. **

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><p>I looked for Ikuto after English class had ended, but I didn't see him anywhere. <em>That's odd. <em>I thought. _Is he cutting the rest of today? _It made sense that that would be the reason I couldn't find him, but I thought he would have told me he was skipping. I went to my next class reluctantly, feeling only a little hurt that he hadn't told me.

After school ended, I left immediately to go to the bus's, expecting that Ikuto was probably at home now, watching T.V. or something. To my surprise, I found him waiting right outside the doors for me. My mood immediately improved. I smiled and jogged over to him.

"Where did you go? I looked for you after class, but I didn't see you."

"I left school." He said simply, not bothering to explain. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"You left… and then you came back? Don't you think that's just going to draw more attention to the fact that you were gone in the first place?" I asked him.

"Yeah, probably. I don't really care, though. It's not like I'll get grounded or anything." Ikuto went strangely silent after that, the expression on his face unreadable. It was almost as if he wished he would get grounded. _Maybe he's trying to imply that his mom doesn't pay attention to him? _I thought to myself. It made sense. No mother would willing let her kid turn out like Ikuto had.

He snapped out of his trance just as suddenly as he had entered it. "Never mind." He said quickly, taking my hand. "Come on, let's go to my house." He pulled me along next to him.

"Alright, sure." I agreed. "I just have to leave by 6. I told my mom I was staying late to study for a test and that I'd be home for 6:30." I checked my watch. It was 2:00 right now. Ikuto mock pouted at me.

"That only gives us a few hours." I stared at him incredulously.

"We'd only have a few hours anyway. Besides, if I stayed longer it would be to dark out to walk home." Ikuto smirked at me, a look on his face that meant he was implying something other then what he had said. I thought about it for a moment before it dawned on me. I struggled to contain the look of horror that I could feel spreading on my face.

"No. Absolutely not. We've been dating for, what? Like, a week? No."

"Come on." Ikuto said teasingly. I punched him lightly in the stomach and he pretended to keel over in pain.

"You are such an ass." I said, a hint of laughter in my voice.

"Really? You think so? I've been working at it for years." There was no hint of sarcasm in his voice, but I couldn't tell if it was a joke or not, and I wouldn't put it past Ikuto to really make it his goal to be an ass.

"Those are some nice morals you got there. What's next on your list, be convicted of animal abuse?" I asked sarcastically. Ikuto just laughed. I looked up in front of me and saw what I assumed was Ikuto's house looming in front of me. I could have sworn it had only been 5 minutes, but somehow we had been walking for half an hour.

"This is your house?" I asked, looking at the monster that would be more accurately described as a sky scraper in front of me. Ikuto saw the look on my face and laughed.

"Yeah, this is it. My step-father was the director of a huge company before he moved here and had a lot of money saved up, so…"

"Really? What company?" I asked, curious.

"Easter." He said shortly. I was shocked by the answer-Easter was a very widely known music producer in Japan. I wanted to ask more about it, but I got the feeling that Ikuto didn't really want to talk about it, so I let the subject drop. We stepped into the house and took of our shoes.

"I'm home! And I brought a friend!" Ikuto shouted. A woman's voice responded.

"I'm in the kitchen if you two need anything." It called back. Ikuto didn't seem to be paying any attention, though, and turned started to walk in the opposite direction of the voice.

"My room is this way." He called over his shoulder to me. I hurried to pull on a pair of slippers and run after him, looking around as I went. The house was built in a western style, but had traditional Japanese paintings hanging around and a memorial with a piece of incense burning in front of a picture of an older woman.

We walked up to flights of stairs before we reached room, and down a long hallway. The room at the very end was his.

"Come on in." He invited. I walked in and was amazed at the size. My room was a good size, but his was at least twice the size of mine. There was a bed in one corner, and two doors opposite the bed. A dresser sat at the foot of the bed. In the corner diagonal from the bed he had two couches with a coffee table between them. The room had a dark blue color scheme. There were only three posters on the wall: one for a violin player who's name I couldn't pronounce, one for a Japanese band I liked called Monkey Majik and one American one I hadn't heard of called Staind. There were two huge piles of CD's next to a stereo near the couches. Ikuto was standing next to it, sorting through the CD's.

"You got a favorite band?" he asked. I thought for a second before answering.

"kanon x kanon is one, but I love Monkey Majik too." I said, guesturing over my shoulder to the poster hanging on the wall. Ikuto popped in a CD and I heard the opening cords to Calendula Requiem by kanon x kanon.

"So, how's your whole plan coming along?" He asked, sounding vaguely interested as we sat. I immediately thought of Faith.

"Well, Faith doesn't like me, that's for sure." Ikuto laughed.

"Yeah, well, she doesn't like anyone. Don't take it personally."

"She said something about you guys dating?" I asked, wondering if it was true or if she just said that to try and get to me.

"Yeah, we dated. Briefly. She's annoying, emotional, needy, and a gossip. She doesn't know the meaning of the words 'mind your own business' either." He said, his voice sounding bitter during the last part.

"Wow. Sounds like you return her obsession with you." I said, not really surprised at Faith's personality but surprised that Ikuto would openly bash her like that. Even if they weren't dating anymore. Ikuto snorted.

"Yeah, totally. So, what are you going to do about her?" My spirits rose at that. I had been waiting to tell him about my plan all day. I leaned in close and started to explain it. The look of excitement on his face when I was finished told me that it was definitely good.

"Excellent! I like it. Let's get to work."


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, sorry it's been so long, but I just got my cable back. Anyone who lives in New England should get what I'm talking about. For those who don't, we had a huge snowstorm over here and it knocked out power. We broke the record for the most snow in October. The local school has already lost about 2 weeks of school. They're going to be there until July! It's times like these that I'm glad to be a homeschooler. Anyway, I'll let you read the next chapter now. Remember to review!**

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><p>I walked in the double doors at the front of the school that day feeling confident. I was sure this had absolutely no chance of failing. My plan was genius. I went over it again and again in my head, only slightly paranoid that I would forget my lines. Even though I only had one. This was all on Ikuto; I was just glad he decided to go along with it. I immediately started looking around for Faith. She always skipped first period, so we had a lot of time, but I wanted there to be an audience, so I was hoping to find her before the bell rang.<p>

Luck was on my side. She was right at her locker, pretending to get her books so that the teachers on hall duty wouldn't suspect her. The teachers and her seemed to have a mutual understanding; as long as they didn't turn in for skipping, and they knew she was skipping, she would pretend she was going to go to class. It seemed stupid to me. I knew what was in it for Faith, but what were the teachers getting out of it? The pride and joy of knowing they were being one-up'ed by a kid half their age?

I whipped out my phone and texted Ikuto, letting him know that Faith was at her locker. I put away my phone before a teacher saw and approached Faith. Step one: stall her until Ikuto comes and embarrasses her in front of her 'friends' and, hopefully, the entire school.

"Hey." I said smugly. I wanted her to sense that something was wrong. I wanted there to be a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. People like her could supposedly smell fear. I wonder if she could smell her own.

Faith whipped around at the sound of my voice, eyes on fire. She smirked. "What do you want? Here to tell me that I was right about Ikuto?" I wanted to punch her so bad, but that was nothing new. I always wanted to punch her. Faith's posy gathered behind her, arms crossed and trying to look intimidating while stumbling in high heels and sagging under the weight of too-heavy enormous purses.

I smiled right back, a fake sweet smile. I saw Faith narrow her eyes. Good. She was figuring it out. "Actually, I was just coming up to chat. How are you doing?" I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. I put my hands on my hips and gave her a look that said plainly, 'I'm going to take you down.' Right on cue, Ikuto walked up behind me.

"So, Faith, what was it you were saying about us?" When Faith gave him a wary look, he just smirked at her. Of course, Ikuto was always smirking, so she didn't catch the look in his eye. She gave me a smug look, obviously thinking that he was going to break up with me or tell me we weren't ever really a couple or something, because she spun around and got the attention of everyone in the hall.

"Attention, everyone! Attention!" She called until the entire hallway, even the teachers, were watching to see what was going to happen next, a few ready to intervene in case this got out of hand, which it almost always did when Ms. I-Think-I'm-To-Good-To-Follow-Rules had something to do with it. "Tsukiyomi Ikuto here has an announcement to make, and everyone is going to listen! I want the whole school to know!" She said smugly. She turned to fact Ikuto. "Go on. Tell them about us and about _her._" She said the word 'her' as though it was some sort of poisonous snake.

"What do you want me to tell them?" Ikuto asked, thoroughly enjoying this. "Where should I begin?"

Faith rolled her eyes. "You want me to choose? Okay, start be telling them the whole story. From the beginning." Ikuto raised an eyebrow.

"Thank you for that clear specification." Faith blushed. "Well, then, Faith and I were going out, but then I discovered that she was a needy, annoying, gossipy, rude, self-absorbed little bitch. Then Hinamori Amu transferred here, I thought she was cute and had an interesting personality, so I started dating her. And I don't regret it." I smiled at him and he leaned down and kissed me. Faith's look of horror had grown through Ikuto's entire speech. When we kissed, she looked like she was going to either be sick or burst into tears or both, and ran off. A cheer went up, and everyone came up to pat us on the backs. The teachers disappeared back into their rooms, not bothering to send us to the office or even tell us off. Secretly, I think they were glad that we had done that.

"Okay, that was pretty fun. I especially enjoyed the look on her face after I kissed you." Ikuto said as we walked down the hall to our class. I laughed.

"I'm still full of adrenaline. I can't imagine that anyone is going to want to talk to her after such a public take down." I said, excited that everything was going so well. I only had one worry – how would Triniti react? If she was still on her side, that could be bad. That might be a signal that I'll have to destroy every one of her cliché's reputation and create my own from scratch, which would require a lot of work. I didn't think it would be like that though – I was pretty sure no one was friends with her because they actually liked her. It was hard to actually know Faith Richards and not hate her.

"I can't believe the plan worked so well. No one even came to her defense. You'd think that someone would pretend to like her and come to her rescue, but apparently everyone thought this was her downfall. I hope they were all right. I couldn't stand it if we went to all that trouble and she made a come-back." I grimaced at the thought.

"Me too. We'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen." I said, and stretched up to kiss him before we walked inside the classroom.


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay, I know you're all about to kill me. I sincerely apologize that it's been a week more then I said it would be on my profile. Honestly, though, I'm just glad I finally finished it and got it up on here. This has been getting really hard to write, especially today since my RE teacher found out his dad died in class today. For any of you who don't know, RE stands for Religious Education. And before you ask, I'm a UU, not a Christian. If you don't know, look it up or PM me because it's too complicated to explain here. Anyway, we're getting off topic. Enjoy the story and don't forget to review. **

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><p>The next day at school, it was like the queen had come to visit. I was amazing and wonderful and cool, just because I had put Faith in her place. Even Triniti still talked to me, and she was supposed to be Faith's best friend. Nobody was talking to Faith anymore though, so I suppose it would have been social death for her to continue talking to her. I made a mental note not to get to close to Triniti.<p>

Though, Faith obviously had someone looking out for her. While I was at my locker, a girl who was probably a freshman came up to me and waited for me to finish getting my stuff out of my lockers before speaking.

"So, is it true that you're a lesbian and were only dating Ikuto to hide it? Because that's what Chelsea is saying about you, you know." I had no idea who Chelsea was, but the fact that she was spreading rumors about me didn't sit well with me. I knew I had to nip this in the bud, discredit her somehow before it got out of hand. But before I had the chance to say anything, the girl started talking again. "You know, it's okay if you are. I don't mind. My moms are." I saw she was wearing a shirt that had the slogan 'I love my two mommies.' I smiled at her, trying to show that what I was about to say wasn't hostile.

"Actually, that's just a rumor. Though I think it's really awesome that you're proud of your moms and not hiding it." I offered. She beamed back up at me.

"Thanks. Well, I'll see you around? My names Jessica, by the way. Jessica Flour." I waved as she walked away.

"Sure. See ya, Jessica." I said. This was the first girl I had met that I actually liked. She wasn't a bitch like Faith or a deserter like Triniti or a gossip like this Chelsea. Oh yeah, Chelsea. I walked off to find Ikuto and ask him about her.

"Chelsea? You mean Chelsea Lovens?" Ikuto asked when I found him at his locker, getting his math book. "She's a freshman. That's the only Chelsea I know." He titled his head slightly in question. "Why?" I shrugged, playing it off as nothing.

"She's just been spreading rumors about me is all. Probably trying to get back at me about Faith." I said. Ikuto though about this and nodded.

"Yeah she's a devout Faithist. Follows her like a shadow. Faith never really liked her, though, so I can't imagine why she kept at it." Ikuto changed to Japanese all of the sudden. "If you ask me, she's a bitch. But don't tell anyone I said that. She has a reputation for destroying people like that." He snapped his fingers. "But then again, that was back in the days when everyone was scared of Faith. She's probably lost her powers by now." I nodded, thinking. If she's lost her powers, not many will believe her. But I needed to dispel the rumors just in case.

"Yeah, you're probably right." I said, following his lead and speaking in Japanese as well. "I'm thinking that I should tell everyone that she's lying anyway. Just so that nobody gets the wrong idea." Ikuto nodded.

"Good thinking. Well, I'll see you after class." He leaned down and gave me a quick kiss before going off to math.

History was boring, as usual. To pass the time, I passed notes with Triniti. I told her about the whole rumor thing with Chelsea so that she would know that they were all lies.

_You're dating Ikuto, obviously you're not a lesbo. _I rolled my eyes before writing back.

_Well, duh. She's just trying to get back at me about Faith. Childish. _I wrote.

_Yeah, totally. _I got back.

After history was English, which I had with Ikuto. I sat in my usual seat which was right next to him. As expected, three people came up to me and asked if the rumors were true. I denied it 5 more times in the hallways after class. This was out of hand. I knew I had to do something, and quick, before she came up with something else.

First, I had to confirm that it really was Chelsea Lovens saying this. If I acted based on the assumption that it was her and then it turned out that she wasn't the one saying this, it would be bad. I didn't even want to think about that. I asked Jessica, and she was all for it.

"Sure, I'd be happy to. If she's saying stuff like this, chances are she's a homophobe and I'd love to take her down a notch, especially if it's going to be like with Richards." It took me a moment to realize that she was talking about Faith when she said 'Richards'. I wasn't used to people using surnames here in America. I could tell she didn't mean it respectfully by the sneer in her voice, though.

Jessica reported back to me the next day. I got a text from a strange number and could tell it was her when I read the message. I had no idea how she got my number, but I figured she must have asked Ikuto or Triniti or someone.

_Chelsea says it was all her. Seemed pretty proud of it though, like she had come up with some ingenious new burn. _

_Thanks._ Was all I texted back. Now that I knew it was her, I had to learn more about her. That was Step 2. In order to come up with something that would really get to her, I had to know what bothered her besides homosexuality. My guess was that she was religious, though I couldn't know that for sure. Step 2 had to be thorough and complete. I had to get someone who was close to her or someone willing to get close to her. I dialed Ikuto. He was sure to know who to go to.


	9. Chapter 9

**This has actually been done since Friday; I just kept forgetting to put it on here. But it's up now, so... yeah. Just a heads up, this is probably only going to run for a few more chapters. Sorry, but I have to get on with all my other stories I have planned. Most of them are on my profile if you want to take a look. As soon as I finish with this, I'm going to put my other two up, one of which will be the sequel to the first (only getting slightly ahead of myself. lol.). I will finish this though, I can promise that much. I can't stand it when authors abandon their stories without finishing them and I refuse to be one of those people. However, if anyone is interested in adopting it and finishing it themselves, that's alright with me too. I'll stop talking and let you read now. Remember to review!**

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><p>"Amelia Towers." Ikuto said without hesitation. "Hero-worships her. You couldn't find a better person to pull this off." Somehow, I doubted this would be as easy as he made it sound…<p>

"But in that case, would we be able to get her to go along? If she worships her…" Ikuto snorted into the phone.

"Please. Amelia can't stand her. Chelsea follows her around 24/7, and she hates it. She literally stalks her." Ikuto laughed. "She seriously follows her home. No, she'll be all for it if it means that Chelsea will quit talking to her. Guarantee her that much, and she will jump at it." He said. I considered this.

"Alright, what's her number? I'll call her and get her to go along with the plan. You'd better be right about this." I said.

"I am, I'm sure of it."

"Well, what's the number, then?" I copied down the numbers he read out to me. They were so different from the way the Japanese phone numbers work I had to ask if he was sure he had the number right. I felt a bit stupid when he had to explain that they wrote phone numbers differently in America. The moment I was off the phone with Ikuto, I called Amelia.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Amelia?"

"Who is this?"

"Hi – I mean, Amu Hinamori. I want to talk to you about Chelsea Lovens." Amelia groaned.

"Look, for the last time, I'm not friends with her. I hate her." Maybe Ikuto knew what he was talking about after all.

"No, that's not it. I need you to do me a favor. Chelsea thinks you're amazing. She's also been spreading odd rumors about me. I'm sure you've heard them."

"About you being a lesbo? I don't believe a word of it. She's always spreading crap." Amelia responded."

"Exactly. I need you to pretend you like her so that she'll tell you about herself. What she likes, what she hates – everything. I'm going to use that information to show her what happens when you mess with people and spread bullshit about them." I said. I felt proud of my comfortable use of American terms. Only a few weeks ago, there was no way I would have been able to understand anyone in America. Amelia didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"What's in it for me?" I smiled.

"When I get her, I'll make sure she knows you're role in this." I said. I could almost hear Amelia's smile.

"I'm in."

The next day my phone wouldn't shut up. Amelia had apparently decided to spend her weekend at Chelsea's house and was texting me non-stop with Chelsea facts. She was a die-hard Christian, like I suspected. She liked pop music, the color pink, and fashion. She hated gays, non-fashionable people, and me. And she threw a wicked temper tantrum to rival a two year old. Typical American teenager. This was going to be easy.

Monday morning I walked in to the school and the first thing I did was head straight to Chelsea's locker. I didn't need to know the combination – I stayed up all night learning how to pick locks quickly and without anyone noticing. I waited just around the corner until she had left and walked up to her locker, calm and bored-looking so no one would suspect I was there for anything other then innocent reasons. I managed to get the locker open with a little difficulty and went to work. The first thing I did was empty the hairspray bottle and refill it with bleach. I took a clear, sticky something I found under the kitchen sink and smeared it all over her hairbrush. The dark purple lipstick she had chosen for today? Replaced with grape jelly. Her perfume was emptied and replaced with essence of my dad's old socks.

After first period, I returned and waited for her to "freshen" up. I waited, out of sight, around a corner until I heard her scream. I whipped around the corner and pressed the record button on my video camera. Nobody could tell why she had suddenly thrown a tantrum in the middle of the hall, complete with throwing books, her perfume, and other hard objects at the people near by. Tears streaming down her face, people weren't sure whether to laugh or scream. She stomped over to me when she saw me with the video camera.

"You sabotaged me!" She screamed. A few girls next to me looked positively terrified. I grinned and shook my head.

"Not just me. I had help." I turned to the gathering crowd. "Would everyone please give a big round of applause for Amelia Towers, who this spectacular show could not have been possible without?" For a moment, no one did anything. Chelsea, who had gone pale, started to scream at the top of her lungs. Finally, a teacher came out to see what all the noise was about.

"What is going on out here?" Yelled Ms. Random Teacher over Chelsea's screams.

"She just started throwing a tantrum." Piped up one girl. "We don't know what happened." The teacher looked at Chelsea, who was now sitting in a corner, rocking back and forth and periodically screaming for a few seconds before falling silent, staring out into space with a strange look on her face. I wondered briefly if I had gone to far this time – she seemed to have completely lost her mind, though I had no idea why. You'd think she'd have more sense then to lose it over a few care products.

The teacher attempted to lead Chelsea away, but she refused to stand or walk or be moved in any way. Eventually Ms. What's-Her-Face had to get a few other teachers to come and help her move them. I turned off my camera and made sure the video had saved. That was going online. Amelia walked up to me and grinned. I hadn't even seen her in the crowd.

"That was amazing. Their going to be talking about The Tantrum for days." And so they did. By the time the rumors ceased, Chelsea was a laughing stock. There were all sorts of new phrases about her, including "pulling a Chelsea" and "You're such a Lovens.". Amu knew it was horrible, but she just couldn't help feeling that, like Faith, Chelsea had gotten what she deserved. Maybe that would teach her to stop spreading rumors. And even if it didn't, who was going to take her seriously after that? No, Operation Destroy Chelsea Lovens could hereby be classified a success.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey there! I know its been a while since I update, but you probably getting used to that by now huh? Well, I'm sorry all the same. I also apologize for a u bizzare typos. I just got a new iPod and man, is auto correct a little *insert name for female dog here*! Anyone also reading Losses no doubt caught the one at the end of chapter 10. If you didn't you must be reading with your eyes closed, which worries me because uou can't be retaining much of the story that way... I decided to leave it for you all to enjoy. Now, please enjoy the next chapter.**

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><p>If I were being completely honest with myself, I would tell you that I had known from the start that his couldnt last. People might like me, but they weren't loyal to me or anything. The only reason they cared about me was because I was putting people they hated in their place. They were capable of turning on me just like they turned on Faith and Chelsea. I guess I just didn't want to see it, how that when they lookePdad at me it wasn't only with admiration, but wih fear. Would they be next? Would I hate them too? Did they stand in my way?<p>

But I just couldn't admit it to myself, that this wasn't like it was back in Japan. Back then, people thought I was talented and cool. People here were just too afraid to cross me. But I couldn't live blinded forever.

I think I first started to notice it when the rumors got worse. Of course, I didn't think too much of it. This was the same thing Chelsea had done and that had turned out as a disaster for her - why should I worry? But even so, it made me just a bit uneasy. I still didn't like that people were spreading rumors about me and I prepared to find out who it was so that I could send them to Loserville to live with Chelsea and Faith.

I wasn't too worried about the rumors for long. When I went back to my locker after school to collect my books, I noticed that my locker had been utterly destroyed. I wasn't the only person either. My locker had been slammed in, and judging by the shape of the dent it had been done by a foot. Several times. It had been kicked in so far that my stuff was falling out. Pencils, pens, two silent reading books and a few pieces of loose paper littered the floor. I bent to pick them up, flaming white jot anter burning in my chest. Whoever did this was going to pay! Nobody crossed me and lived to tell the tale - these people should know that by now! Americans really were stupid!

Ikuto walked up and stopped dead at the sight of me picking up my things from the ground and tried to force my locker opened as people watched apprehensively, no doubt wondering whether or not i would leave the culprit alive and in one piece. In that moment, I was so upset I just might have if someone had been stupid enough to confess to it.

"What the hell? What happened?" he asked, clearly as surprised as the others by the nerve of whoever had done this. My hands shook with surpressed rage as I repetedly tried to prh my locker door the rest of the way open. I shook my head.

"No idea." I said in Japanese. I was so mad I had even forgotten to speak English. Ikuto looked taken aback. "But when I find the person who did it they'll be dead before they hit the ground." Even I realized how terrifying I seemed right now, but I didn't really care. Ikuto paused before coming over to help. After we had finally managed to get it open and remove my books, stowing them away my bag. Ikutp continued to stare at me as we walked down the hallway. When we got to the parking lot, I was about to say goodbye when he inturrupteded me.

"You should really give people a break sometimes." He said his in Japanese, something he hadn't done for a while. It took me a moment to realize what he was talking about but I wasn't happy when I did.

"Let me get this straight. You think that I should be completely okay with someone smashing my locker in?" I said, taking his lead and also speaking Japanese. Ikuto shook his head.

"That's not what I was trying to say at all. What I meant is you have a tendancy to jump into things without thinking about it first. That's probably why this happened in the first place." I couldn't believe what I was hearing right now. Ikuto was critisizing me for being headstrong? Was I the one who blackmailed a girl I had only known for all of 10 minutes into becoming mu girlfriend? He couls not be serious. This was all some sort of joke.

"Are you kidding me? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?" I shouted at him, all sanctity gone. I was so pissed off I forgot I was standing in front of the school. It was a good thing we were talking in Japanese or I would be in trouble right now. "Are you seriously trying to convince me that I'm rash, that I don't think before I act?" Ikuto opened his mouth to respond, an odd look on his face but I was too mad at him to care. I held up a hand to stop him saying anything. "You know what? Just don't. I don't want to hear it." I shouldered my backpack and started towarss my hus, ignoring Ikuto who was calling my name. I boarded and sat alone at the front of the bus, ignoring everyone.

I was being targetted by an unknown bully and everyone was too afraid of me to try and help, lest they do something wrong and suffer my wrath. Mu boyfriend thought everything was my fault and that I didn't stop to think. Could this day get any worse?

Looking back now, I wish I had listened to Ikuto.


	11. Chapter 11

**This is a short chapter. I think anyway. I haven't checked the word count so... Whatever, all my chapters are short so why would this be any different? Lol. I'm going to try and work on my chapters being longer in future stories, but this one is drawing to a close so I dont think I'll bother. Lol. Well anyway enjoy and the next chap may or may not be up in a reasonable amount of time. Most likely not because I'm not entirely sure of the details yet.**

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><p>Life... Is shit. That's all it really is. You can't rely on anyone and nothing you do is ever good enough. There will always be people who disagree with you and who hate you no matter what you do. And the most important thing is to find the people who do agree with you, who value the same things you do and can connect with you because if you go around trying to please everyone, everyone will reject you. This is a lesson I learned the hard way.<p>

I fought tooth and nail to be at the top and gain the reverence and fear of the entire school. But it was impossible that I could ever have the entire school. There would always be people who hated me.

I couldn't accept that at first. I was convinced that I was right, as all teenage girls are. I thought that people were being unreasonable when there was nothing they had done to me that I hadn't deserved. But I couldn't see that. I couldn't see that sometimes you have to backdown, that something's aren't worth it. Sometimes, you just have to accept the way the world is, the way human kind is, even it it sucks.

I think the first time I was really forced to notice his was my fight with Ikuto. I wanted to be mad at him, I really wanted to, but I couldn't. I knew he was right. I jumped people before I even gave them a chance. I didn't give anyone a chance to explain themselves before I decided they were horrible people. And because I hadn't realized this for so long, the entire school was turning against me. I rolled over on my bed and stared out into the stormy night as I let out a bitter laugh. That was the exact opposite of what I had wanted. I suddenly remembered meeting Ikuto's sister for the first time and how I had made her so angry. I hadn't realized how horrible I had been to her.

What was with the sudden change of heart? I was suddenly seeing all the bad things I had done to people, he everything was starting to work against me, and it scared me a bit. These whole sudden life changing larger than life moments were always so calming and freeing in the movies.

So why was I so frightened?

I honestly didn't know what to make of this situation. Amu was digging herself a hole that she would never be able to get out of and refused to listen to reason. It was true that earlier in our relationship, I would have just sat back and watched this happen. I had only started dating her because I was bored, but now... It was different. I cared for he and what happened to her and didn't want to see her destroy herself like this. I wanted to help her, but the stubborn bitch kept pushing me away! It was so frustrating, yet understandable at the same time. What reason did she have to trust me anyways? I was probably to her what she had been to me at this point...

But I realized that even if that was true, I didn't care. It didn't matter to me how often she tried to push me away, how much she rejected me and refused my help. I didn't change the fact that I cared how things turned out for her in the end.

So that settled it. I would try one more time. If she still couldn't accept any advice from me, I would go behind her back to stop her suffering. I stood up and pushed the chair away from my desk abruptly and pulled on my coat. I didn't bother with the door - if I used the door I'd have to come up with an excuse to go out for Mom, which I really didn't want to waste any time on. I jumped out the window and landed quietly in the soft grass of my backyard. I would get hell when I came home for this. But as I walked towards the street and turned to walk towards Amu's house, I couldn't bring myself to give a fuck.


	12. Chapter 12

**This chapter is a reasonable length. Aren't you proud of me? *beams* Well, I don't have anything to say, really. Uh... This story should be finished in maybe 3 or 4 more chaps and then it will be pretty much all Sirius x Remus stuff. Yeah. So review and all that good shit. Now read.**

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><p>I walked down the road, the cold wind whipping my hair. The sun was starting to set, but this didn't bother me. I had already reached Amu's street, and could even see her house from here. I hadn't even thought about what I was going to say. I was also starting to realize that I could have called her, but chances were she wouldn't have picked up the phone anyway. I pulled my jacket tighter around me as a sudden burst of wind picked up, making me shiver. It was amazing how quickly it could go from being pleasantly warm to biting cold once the sun started going down. I approached the house and knocked on the door.<p>

A middle aged Japanese woman opened the door. There was no recognition in her face and she asked, "I can help you?" in a heavy accent much like Amu's.

"I'm looking for Hinamori Amu." I responded in Japanese, trying to save her the trouble. She looked relieved a d pleasantly surprised. "I'm a friend of hers from school. My name is Tsukiyomi Ikuto."

"I am Amu's mother." she said with a bow. I retuned it a bit awkwardly, not quite used to Japanese etiquette. "Nice to meet you. Please come in."

"Shitsure shimasu."* I said, stepping in and removing my shoes.

"I believe Amu is in her room. Why don't you go up and I'll make you two some tea. Her room is upstairs and the third room on the right." she said and disappeared into a room off to the left, which I presumed was the kitchen. I headed upstairs and counted the doors. When I reached hers, it was quite obvious that it belonged to her. There was a sign on it that said "Keep Out!" in both English and Japanese, making it easily distinguishable as a teenagers room. I ignored the sign, knocked quickly and opened the door.

Amu's room was different then I had imagined it to be. I had imagined her room decked out in dark colors with posters and maybe some rock CD's. She had seemed like that sort of person. But instead, I found it was all white with a pink bed, a brown desk, dresser, and kontatsu. She was sitting at the Japanese style table, staring blankly out the window. It was cute. I wondered what she was thinking about. I shook my head to clear it before I forgot why I was here and cleared my throat. She started and looked around. Her face darkened as her eyes landed on me.

"Oh. You." she said and went back to staring out the window. So she was still mad at me. Just for thing to give some advice! Women! "What do you want?" she asked coldly.

"The same thing I wanted before. To keep you from making a stupid mistake that you'll regret later." she snorted.

"What do you care what I do? Besides, you were all for it only a few days ago."

"Don't you see what's been happening? I thought you're locker would be warning enough that you've taken this too far!" I exclaimed. How could she be so blind?

"I'm not stupid, I realize that. But I don't need your help." this caught me off guard. If she knew, then why was she sitting here arguing with me? Why couldn't she just make sense for once?

"I only want to help you, Amu! Can't I even do that much for my girlfriend?" I tried. I was starting to get annoyed by now.

She whipped around, eyes blazing. She was a good two heads shorter than me, but an angry Amu was a formidable foe even so. She stood but didn't come any closer.

"Don't even try that with me! Since when do you care about me?" she yelled in Japanese. I noticed that when she got angry or upset she reverted to her native language. I typically followed suit, though I didn't always notice that I had done it.

"Ever since I realized just how much you needed someone to protect you!" I yelled back. She blinked in surprise. "You act like you don't need anyone but it's all bullshit! You think everyone is against you but you fail to see that people do care. I want to help you. Why won't you let me?" She didn't respond for a minute, but she was shaking in anger.

"Because I don't need help! I know how to take care of myself and I don't need your help to fix my own problems." she snarled. "This doesn't concern you, so stay out of it!" It was then that I realized that the last thing she would do was admit that she was only human and needed help sometimes. She wasn't going to accept any help from me, and it didn't matter what it was, she still wouldn't let me do anything for her. She couldn't accept that I cared and I wanted to stop this before it got out of control. I was only wasting my time here.

So I was going to have to do this in my own. I would have to go behind her back, try to meet this head on without her knowledge. It would be difficult - if she didn't discover me on her own, someone else would tell her what I was doing eventually. I had to pretend that I was giving up, that I wasn't going to spend anymore time on this. I had to make it convincing. I thought for a second, pretending to be stunned into silence.

"Fine." I snarled back. "Fine. You want to do everything yourself? Be my guest. You won't be getting anymore help from me." I turned on my heel, walking out of the room. I heard the door slam shut behind me. I walked calmly down the stairs, but made sure to step heavy in case Amu was listening so that it would sound like stomping. Mrs. Hinamori's face appeared at the bottom of the stairs, a crease of worry on her face.

"Is something wrong? I heard shouting." I smiled kindly at her, trying to think of something that I could say so that I wouldn't look like a jerk but I wouldn't be exactly lying in case she asked Amu about it later.

"It's nothing. We just had a small disagreement. I'm sure it will all blow over soon." This sort of worked. She didn't look as worried, but it didn't completely erase the worry line. Although she didn't seem to think less of me.

"I'm sure it will. Amu can be... disagreeable sometimes, but she always calms down after a little while." I nodded.

"I should probably be getting home." she nodded and bowed.

"Thank you for stopping by, Tsukiyomi-san."

"I hope to be back soon." I said, glancing over my shoulder at Amu's door. I wondered if she would forgive me for trying to help. What about all the interfering behind her back I was about to do?

I headed back to my house, the air now several degrees colder than when I was on my way. I pulled my jacke tighter around me and hid my hands in my pocket.

How was I going to manage to pull this off?

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><p><strong>*excuse me, basically. You say it when you enter someone's house. Also acceptable is ojama shimasu.<strong>


	13. Chapter 13

**Another short one. Sorry, I wanted to make it longer but I wanted it to stop on this lovely little cliffhanger that is sure to aggravate you all. Well, enjoy what can only really be called the appetizer to chapter... 14? Something like that. Review and all that good stuff.**

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><p>Things were going well so far. I had been talking to Faith, using her obsession over me to get her to listen to me. She was thoroughly confused about why I liked her and refused to listen to any explanation, so I settled for letting her believe that things hadn't worked out and that we were only friends and brushed aside her shameless flirting, which seemed to be all she did 247. The things I did for Amu...

Chelsea was another story. She wouldn't listen to a single word I said after I tried to get her to forgive Amu, accusing me of "fraternizing with the enemy", and stalking off to sulk, apparently forgetting that I was with Amu, no matter how angry she was at me, and that I had been dating her before I even started speaking to Chelsea, and therefore my first loyalty was to her. She was a real piece of work, and sometimes I just wanted to punch her in the face. How Amu had the patience to sit there and plan out elaborate stunts I would never know.

And as for Amu, she was ignoring me now. I tried to talk to her a few times, tried to apologize and get her to see reason, but she simply threw me a cold glare and said, "I'm doing it on my own, just like you told me to." and stalked off.

Not that she was getting anywhere with this 'doing it on her own' thing. Chelsea was ruder to her than even me and Faith, though pretty much over Amu's destroying her reputation now that she was gaining more back as Amu sank, hated her for allegedly "stealing her precious Ikuto away.".

Amu needed me, she just wouldn't admit it. She was upset, but she missed me. I could tell when in English class she would catch herself staring at me and jerk her attentions back to the lesson, a light blush on her cheeks or when she would smile at me in the hall before remembering herself and walking hastily away, face hidden behind her books. She missed being with me. I looked up at the sky with a sigh.

I missed her too.

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><p>That little bastard! He comes in and starts picking fights with me in my own home and then tries to come up and talk to me as though nothing happened? Did he think I would just forgive him? Ikuto wasn't that stupid, was he?<p>

Admit it, said a voice in my head. You miss him. You still want to be with him.

No way, I told it irritably. Why would I want to be with such a jackass? But of course I was lying to myself. I clearly remembered the day when Ikuto had asked me out, if it could be called asking. I had been attracted to the way he had presented himself so proudly and confidentially, so sure of himself that he didn't think for a second that I would even consider turning him down. I loved his mischievous smile and his sparkling blue eyes...

No. I couldn't think like that. Otherwise I would convince myself to take him back even though he didn't think I was capable of doing anything for myself. He thinks I need him to do everything for me.

Well, I'd show him. I didn't need nor want all of this stupid attention be was giving me even though I had as good as broken up with him. He would come crawling on his hands and knees for forgiveness when I had made Faith and Chelsea fall for my apology and become my friends, elevating without having to worry about betrayal because they already knew what happened to those who got on the wrong side of me. Not much of a chance they'd want to through that again. All I needed was a good plan...

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><p>Dear Ms. Hinamori,<p>

The autopsy report has been finished and it has shown that you were in no way responsible for the death of Ms. Lovens. Before she fell, she had a heart attack due to a medical condition in which her heart beat too fast. I understand that two of you were friends, and I'm sorry for your loss. If you have any questions regarding the autopsy or the charges that have been dropped, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Belinda Johnson, PmD.

work: (724) 839-6110

home: (724) 933-5517

cell: (724) 118-0040

This... Was all my fault. Nothing they could say would change that.

My fault. All my fault. She was gone and I was entirely to blame.

My fault.

My fault.

My fault.

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><p><strong>So yeah... I feel like I originally had something important to say but now I can't remember what. Oh well. Review and make me a happy person so that I just might write a decent length chapter next time. :)<strong>


	14. Chapter 14

**So I decided to split this into two chapters otherwise it would end up beig waaay to long. I can't have you starting to expect decent length chapters! That would be a nightmare! So incase you wouldn't have been able to figure this out for yourself, this chapter is a flashback. Obviously, the next one will be too. And then there will be one more chapter. And then it will be over! I wonder how many of you were reading this when it was originally posted, if any of you. If there are any of you out there, let me know in a review! Which brings me to my reminder for you to review! Now, enjoy!**

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><p>I was determined that I could do this by myself and didn't need Ikuto's help with any of this. He was the one who had started this whole mess with starting to go out with her. Hadn't it all started there? And he still thought that she was going to give him the satisfaction of admitting that I didn't have this under control? Well I did, and I was going to fix this all by myself.<p>

My first stop was Chelsea Lovens. I hoped that she would be easier to convince to forgive me. She was a follower; she took in information about every option and decided which option would give her the most power and security. So basically, I just had to show her that I could make her more secure than Faith could. Which she should know anyway. I was the one who knew how to put other people in their places, which I has already proved. When she realized this, she would make a pretty show of pretending to be mad at me and then forgive me but really, she won't have been mad at me for any of it.

I firs approached her after school on a Friday. She caught sight of me and the smile she had been wearing, presumably because she was excited to be going home after what a long, exhausting day this had turned out to be, froze on her face. I put on my best sad, guilty face and inclined my head in a little half bow, half sheepish look, and shuffled my feet. I glanced up at her and quickly looked away again. She seemed a bit confused by my behavior.

"Look... I just wanted to apologize, okay?" Chelsea tried to look mad, but I could see the glee in her face. She had realized that me making up with her could give her a powerful "friend" than? Or did she just enjoy seeing me apologizing to her.

"Why should I accept it?" she asked cooly. I shuffled my feet a bit more.

"I was out of line. I should have just came to talk to you instead of playing that cruel prank." Chelsea sniffed and looked down her nose at me.

"You were out of line." she said. "I'm not so sure I want to forgive you." I shrugged and glanced at her again, quickly looking away.

"I guess that's up to you. At least... you know where I stand." I raised my hand in a bit of a half-hearted wave. "Later." I shuffled away. I kept my head down until I had rounded the corner and checked behind me. Chelsea was nowhere in sight. I raised my head and grinned confidentially. She had taken the bait. I could hear it in her voice and see it on her face. It wouldn't take too much more.

When I got home, I went up to my room and immediately set to work. I put together a quick letter saying that I was sorry, I didn't expect her to forgive me but that if she could I hoped that we could be friends, yada yada yada, an sent it off. It didn't take anymore than 30 minutes before I was done and I simply set it in the mailbox with a stamp so that the postman would pick it up when he brought the mail. After my homework was finished, I looked up Faith's number in the phone book. It would look odd if I didn't try to apologize to both of them at the same time because I would seem as though I only wanted one of their forgiveness and would make I even harder to make up with Faith too.

Although I wasn't sure that there was any making up to do with Faith. We hadn't even been friends in the first place. In fact, she had hated me. So did I really need to worry about Faith? It's not like she ever would want to be friends with me even if I did apologize. I didn't put too much effort into the apology, preferring to save time and concentrate on Chelsea, my only chance.

At school the next day, it was obvious that I had been right about her. She waved in the hall and when questioned by her groupies said that I had apologized and that she was "willing to work to repair our friendship". I made sure I was out of hearing range before I let myself laugh at this. Repair our friendship? Since when had we been friends? She made it sound as if we were the best of mates and then I suddenly betrayed her for no reason. What a bitch! But no matter. I wasn't really going to be friends with her. I just wanted her to think I was so that I could regain my popular status.

I decided to push my luck by approaching her again. I acted all guilty, doing my shuffling feet and eyes downcast act. I had had this whole speech planned, but the moment I walked up to her she started talking, not giving me the chance to say a word.

"I've realized," she said pompously, "That you really do feel bad for what you did. So I accept your apology and want to be friends." I pretended to look all happily shocked and everything. I beamed at her.

"Really? You forgive me? Because I really am sorry. So so sorry." I simpered, sucking up as much as possible. She smiled and put a hand on my shoulder, nodding.

"Of course I forgive you. How could I not when you look so guilty and everything?" she held out her arms. "Come on, give me a hug." I was horrified. She wanted me to what now? But I had to pretend to be pleased and moved forward to embrace the girl. I had a feeling I was going to be physically sick. I had no desire to touch this person or come anywhere even close to her, but I supposed that I should have seen it coming. Chelsea is one of those girls who can't go five minutes without hugging someone, be in a stranger she sees in the hall or one of her little girlfriends. I didn't understand how she did it. Back in Japan, I wouldnt have dreamed of randomly hugging one of my friends, never mind a complete stranger!

When she had finally released me, I forced a smile and told her that I had to leave now but that I would text her and got out of their as quickly as possible. As I rounded the corner, I found Ikuto standing right there and started. It was creepy how he could just appear like that...

"Don't do that!" I huffed and made to walk around him, but he moved to block me. I tried a few times before taking a step back and placing a hand on my hip.

"What the fuck, Ikuto? Get out of my way!" I said, exasperated. He chuckled.

"You handled that well." he observed. It took me a moment to realize that he was talking about Chelsea. I drew myself up proudly.

"What did I tell you? I don't need you to do everything for me." I said smugly. I couldn't help feeling just a bit proud of myself. Of course, Ikuto couldn't have allowed me my moment of self love. No, he just had to bring me down again.

"Actually, you didn't do that all on your own. It was I who convinced her that you were a better source of protection than Faith would ever be." I stared in disbelief.

"Come on Ikuto. I manage to do one thing for myself and now your trying to steal it from me?" his lips curled into the smallest of frowns.

"I'm not lying, Amu. I really did that." I raises and eyebrow at him and crossed my arms.

"Oh? Even after the fight we had a few days ago?" I asked, still not buying it. He could have shown me a video proving he had done and I still wouldn't have believed him. I didn't want to lose this victory to him, especially not because I was still mad a him. Ikuto sighed.

"I wasn't ever mad at you Amu." He said, his voice gentler than before and he reverted to Japanese, which startled me a bit. He only used Japanese when he was serious about something. He rubbed his head with his hand. "Look, all I ever wanted was to help you. All I wanted was to make this all turn out well for you, and when things started to take a turn for the worse... I had to do something. You wouldn't let me help. Tell me, Amu, what would you have done in my shoes?" he asked. I looked at him, searching his eyes for any hidden lie or deceit, but found none. I sighed and walked over to him and hugged him gently. I was surprised at the sense of relief I felt when he embraced me back.

"I would have done the exact same thing." I said truthfully. "I'm... I'm sorry. For what I said to you, for how I ignored you, for everything." he gave me a small squeeze.

"It's alright." he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. I looked up at him and smiled to. He hesitated before leaning down and kissing me gently, softly. I kissed back, trying to communicate my apology and guilt in the kiss. When we broke away a few seconds later, he was practically beaming.

"You're going to miss the bus if you don't hurry up." I looked down at my watch and jumped.

"The buses leave in only a few minutes! I still have to go back to my locker. I'm not going to make it." Ikuto laughed at my distress.

"I'll drive you." I looked at him, exasperated but a smile playing on the edges of my lips.

"Why didn't you just say that in the first place... Dickhead." Ikuto mockingly raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, we're back to that are we? And I thought you had outgrown those childish nicknames." I punched him lightly in the arm and he pretended to fly backwards from the force of the blow. He accidentally actually slammed into the wall and I burst out laughing, doubled over and holding my sides. He looked perplexed at first before breaking into a wide grin.

"In my defense, that wall was not there before!" I only laughed harder. I realized that everything was okay between us again. We weren't fighting anymore. And this, no matter how much I would deny it, made me insanely happy.


End file.
